Bullying just got thrown out at the plate.
The Cyclones hosted Anti-Bullying Night at MCU Park on June 23, with a pre-game ceremony featuring a performance from spoken word artist and anti-bullying activist Malcolm Wicks.
The event was produced in collaboration with Bridg-It, makers of a new online application that provides schools, teachers, parents, and students with tools to combat bullying. Wicks and Bridg-It have developed a partnership that has the poet speaking to kids across the nation about the pitfalls of bullying.
“I want to represent respect, leadership and positivity,” said Wicks. “When I met the people from Bridg-It, I realized that they were doing something much-needed in the community.”
Wicks was joined by dancers from David A. Boody Junior High School, one of two schools in the city using the Bridg-It software in a pilot program. The app, which allows students to report bullying incidents digitally — and discretely — has made a dramatic difference at Boody, according to the principal of the Gravesend school.
“We’ve discovered that students are not always comfortable reporting bullying in person because they don’t want to be seen going in to speak to a principal or a dean,” said principal Dominick D’Angelo. “Now they can report on their computer or tablet without being afraid.”
Bridg-It’s app allows students to report bullying incidents at any time at any time of day, and swift notification let’s school administrators stop bullying problems before they can fester.
D’Angelo said a lot of bullying happens outside of school grounds, either in person or through social media, so the app clues the school’s staff into potential incidents that they would never otherwise know about. The system also features a database of activities and lesson plans that schools can use to stop bullying before it ever starts. A lot of research and analysis went into creating the database, according to the company’s founder, but he said Bridg-It prides itself most on the ease of use the program offers.
“We break everything down into finite and easy-to-understand activities,” said founder Jeff Ervine. “We’ve put tens of thousands of hours into creating content that can be easily digested in a couple of minutes.”
Bridg-It plans to team up with Wicks again this fall to create an anti-bullying poetry slam competition for city students so that young artists can have an opportunity to show their stuff.
“Those kids from Boody were amazing dancers,” Wicks said. “But there are a lot of kids out there who are artists who really don’t have a chance to have their voices heard.”
